Sick children swamp hospital
As flood victims surge to the capital to receive medical treatment, doctors at Phnom Penh’s Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital say they’ve never seen such overcrowding.
Parents holding their sick children and infants line the perimeter of the complex, spending up to seven hours crouched on hot concrete before being admitted to the facility.
“We have never during the last 21 years had so many outpatients and inpatients in the month of October,” said Dr Beat Richner, founder of the hospital. “[Yesterday], there were 2,228 severely sick children … that required hospitalisation. [The day before], there were 4,200 sick children in the outpatient stations.”
Many of the mothers outside Kantha Bopha blame their children’s sickness on the fetid floodwaters. …
NGOs providing disaster aid said that, in the 20 provinces affected by flooding, fear of disease is paramount.
“The main issue is that a lot of children get sick with the flu, fever, eye infections and especially diarrhea,” said Leng Vireak, senior manager for disaster response at World Vision. …
Laignee Barron and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sick-children-swamp-hospital
